1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to ergonomic bicycle seats, and more specifically to bicycle seats having a section or layer of thermoplastic elastomeric honeycomb padding within the foam layer of the seat.
2 Brief Description of the Prior Art
Early attempts to cushion the ischial bones of bicycle riders consisted of padded seat covers, which were used to cover a stock bicycle seat. Numerous problems arose with these types of seat covers. Often the materials used for the padding--such as foam, rubber, air or water bags--were either too firm or too soft for adequate comfort. Additionally, after a prolonged period of use, the covers would chafe and rub the thighs of the rider, and the fastening means would loosen causing the cover to slip out of alignment with the seat.
In response to the problems with seat pads or covers, multilayer bicycle seats were introduced. Instead of covering a stock bicycle seat, the multilayer seats directly replaced the stock bicycle seats. Most prior art seats combine a rigid shell affixed to foam padding with a durable cloth covering both. Seats such as those disclosed in Chiarella U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,361, also included an encapsulated layer of gel material disposed between the rigid shell and the cloth cover.
When downward pressure is placed on a Chiarella type seat (by the rider's ischial bones), the gel disperses laterally away from the point of pressure. Also, the gel breaks apart readily with repeat use. This reduces the effectiveness of the gel as a shock absorber because the rider's ischial bones rest on a thin layer of gel only. Further, the gel must be confined to lay in a horizontal plane and thus cannot be placed along the sides of the seat for lateral shock absorption. The gels used in bicycle seats are heavy, adding weight to the bicycle which is undesirable to the rider.
Another option to the multilayered bicycle seat is the use of a layer of stiff rubber immediately below the covering material. Adding more layers of material to a seat increases the expense of manufacture and decreases the longevity of the seat due to wear caused by the friction that occurs between the layers of seat padding when the seat is being used.